Why is the National Debt a Problem?

The interest paid per year increases and could eventually be more than all other spending. It drains our wealth and sends a large percentage of it overseas. Eventually you are only able to pay the interest and nothing else. This means bankruptcy.

Interest on the debt (as of 2010) was larger than all but a handful of programs, over $400 Billion. Just think of what you could do with your share of that money.

We will no longer control our own destiny. The owners of the debt will.

[New for 2010] If interest rates rise in general, they will increase the United States' interest payments dramatically.

On January 20, 2001, the debt was $5.7 trillion. Eight years later, January 2009, it was $10.6 trillion, an increase of $4.9 trillion, or 86 percent. In July 2010 the national debt stood $13.2 trillion, an increase of $2.6 trillion or 25 percent - in 18 months since January 2009. In May 2011, the debt stood at $14.3 Trillion, a $3.7 trillion increase in 28 months.